Throttle valve controller device for automobile carburetor

ABSTRACT

A throttle valve controller device for an automobile carburetor which basically comprises an electrical, not mechanical, connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve mounted in an automobile, wherein the electrical connection is constituted by an element for generating an electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal, an element for controlling the degree of opening of the throttle valve in accordance with the electric signal generated, a plurality of switches connected with a reference signal transmission line provided between the two elements, whereby the change-over of the switches enables another electrical signal other than the accelerator pedal signal to be supplied to the latter one of the two elements so that the degree of opening of the carburetor throttle valve can be set independently of the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal.

United StatesPatent Kato [ Mar. 14, 1972 [54] THROTTLE VALVE CONTROLLER DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILE CARBURETOR [72] Inventor: Takaaki Kato, Toyohashi-shi, Japan [73] Assignee: Nippondenso Kabushiki Kalsha, .Kariyashi, Japan 22] Filed: Jan. 16, 1970 211 Appl.No.: 3,436

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 5, 1969 Japan ..44/8947 3,198,184 8/1965 Bohn ..l23/102 3,270,728 9/1966 Mizuno 1 23/ 102 3,333,463 8/ 1967 Hollinghurst 1 23/ 102 3,338,225 8/1967 Nicholson..... ....l23/ 102 3,407,793 10/ 1968 Lang 1 23/ 102 3,476,205 1 1/ 1969 Kato ..l23/ 102 X Primary Examiner-Wendell E. Burns Attomey-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT A throttle valve controller device for an automobile carburetor which basically comprises an electrical, not mechanical,

connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve mounted in an automobile, wherein the electrical connection is constituted by an element for generating an electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal, an element for controlling the degree of opening of the throttle valve in accordance with the electric signal generated, a plurality of switches connected with a reference signal transmission line provided between the two elements,

[56] I References Cited wherebythe change-over of the switches enables another elec- UNITED STATES PATENTS trical signal other than the accelerator pedal signal to be supplied to the latter one of the two elements so that the degree of 2,192,7 Norman et al R X opening of the carburetor throme valve can be set indepen- 3 1 l 1 Kate i. l E dandy of the degree cf depression of the accelerator 2,661,071 12/1953 Hoener.... ..l23/l02 2,883,975 4/1959 Spetner ..123/102 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures ACCELEQATO? PEDAL I i i HH-tHt/VCE fi 5591/0 fimrnf gg 13 9 J AMPL/HER Mm-mxwsv W ENG/NE fimf/g/ v gt' if; e /#4701? L 4 SPE DETECTOR PATENTEDMAR 14 m2 ACCELERA7OR PEDAL REFERENCE SERVO MECl-lAN/S THRO T TLE VAL VE AccELERAmR PEDAL REf-ZRHVCE F" VOLTAGE {J GENERATOR REFERENCE VOL 7A6E 6E NE RA TOR ACCELEW UO? PEDAL REFERENCE voLrAaE GENERATOR REFERENCE A ECHANO- E LE C TR/C TRANSDUCER F/O. Z

AMPL/F/ n SERVO MECHAN/W THROTTLE VALVE E NO/NE MECHANO- ELE C TR/C ENG/NE SPEED DE TEC TOR Z RANSDUCEfl AMPL/F/ER VIECHAN/ SERVO THROTTLE VALVE ENG/NE M LEC T R/C TRANSDUCE? ECHANO DETEC7UR DR/ VE SPEED DETECTOR INVENTOR Wig/M /f/ 479 WQ W'W THROTTLE VALVE CONTROLLER DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILE CARBURETOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a novel throttle valve controller device for an automatic carburetor which enables the throttle valve to be opened and closed not only through the operation of the accelerator pedal, but also through other types of operations.

2. Description of the Prior Art According to the prior art in the automobile industry, it is a well-known practice that the throttle valve in the carbureter mounted in an automobile is mechanically connected to the accelerator pedal located in the drivers compartment by means of a linkage so that the throttle valve may be opened or closed by the driver as he desires. When the automobile is running, however, the driver may often encounter such a case that he wants the carbureter throttle valve to perform its function in an automatic manner independently of his own will or intentions or without any concentrated operations on his part. Such a necessity may typically take place, for example, when the driver wants his vehicle to run with its engine revolving at a constant speed irrespective of the load of the vehicle, that is, when it is desired to provide a constant-speed running function for automatically maintaining the vehicles running speed at a constant level. Similar necessities may also arise when it is desired to close the throttle valve to thereby prevent any excess revolutions of the engine in order to protect the engine from any danger which might result if the number of engine revolutions exceed a prescribed value, or when the number of engine revolutions must be controlled so as to provide the same number of rotations to two clutch surfaces or plates in order to accomplish clutch engagement by changing over the speed change gear. I

In all these cases, if a servo mechanism is the only means to control the degree of opening of the throttle valve, there is a possibility that the aforesaid mechanical linkage connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve may permit the accelerator pedal to receive the movement of the throttle valve which is caused upon operation of the servo mechanism, with a result that an unexpected movement is transmitted to the drivers foot as it is depressing the accelerator pedal during the normal running of the vehicle. Such an unexpected movement received by the driver's foot would not only make him feeluneasy, but also lead to a serious problem such as unsafe or hazardous driving. Thus, according to the prior art, it has been practically impossible to accomplish the control of the number of engine revolutions over such a wide range of speed as described above, only by controlling the degree of opening of the throttle valve.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present invention to'provide a throttle valve controller device for automobile carbureter which comprises an element for generating an electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of an accelerator pedal in an automobile, and an element for controlling the degree of opening of a carbureter throttle valve in accordance with the electric signal so generated.

According to the present invention, the carbureter throttle valve controller device includes an element or means for generating an electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal means for producing at least one reference signal related to an engine drive characteristic or parameter, and an element or means for controlling the degree of opening of the carbureter throttle valve in accordance with the said electric signal. These two elements or means together constitute an electrical connection between the accelerator pedal and the throttle valve. There is also provided a plurality of switches connected with a reference signal transmission line between the aforesaid two elements or means. Thus, the changeover of the switches enables the selection of an input reference signal supplied to the latter one of the two elements, or means so that the degree of of opening of the carburetor throttle valve can be set in accordance with the reference signal produced by the second-mentioned means, but independently of the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal. This results in an excellent advantage that the control of the engine speed can be effected with great ease and readiness to meet various requirements which may take place when the vehicle is running, such as the need to prevent any excessive engine revolutions, the need to expedite the clutch engagement required to change over the speed change gear, and so forth.

Furthermore, the throttle valve control achieved by the present invention does not permit any movement of the throttle valve to be transmitted to the accelerator pedal and this means a great contribution to the safety requirement in the automobile driving in that the driver can be free from any restless feeling or worries which might result from such transmission of the movement of the throttle valve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the basic arrangement of the throttle valve controller device according to the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are similar diagrams illustrating other examples -of the throttle valve controller device embodying the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail'with respect to various embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, thereis generator 1 for generating an electric signal (in this case, the magnitude of a DC voltage) corresponding to the degree to which an accelerator pedal 2 is depressed by the driver's foot. More concretely, the reference voltage generator 1 may comprise an element such as a potentiometer, differential transformer or like means which converts a mechanical displacement into an electric signal. There are also provided an amplitier 3, a servo mechanism 4, and a carburetor throttle valve 5. There are further provided switches 6, 6a and 6b, and the switch 6 functions in such a manner that while it is being closed a reference voltage is transmitted from the reference voltage generator 1 to the amplifier 3. The output of the amplifier 3 is applied to the servo mechanism 4 whose output causes the throttle valve 5 to open or close. The degree of this opening of the throttle valve 5 is detected by an element 7 such as a potentiometer which converts a mechanical displacement into an electrical signal, and the electrical signal is conducted as a negative feedback to the input of the amplifier 3. Where a balance is maintained between the value of the negative feedback and the value of the reference voltage, the throttle valve will be opened to a stable degree. Thus, after all, the throttle valve 5 is opened or closed in accordance with the magnitude of the reference voltage, i.e., the degree of depression of the accelerator pedal 2, whereby there is provided the same effect as attained by the mechanical linkage system of the prior art.

As described above, a feature of the present invention lies in the electrical connection provided between the accelerator pedal 2 and the throttle valve 5, as well as in the provision of switches 6, 6a and 6b connected with the reference signal transmission line between the reference voltage generator 1 and the throttle valve control elements 3, 4 and 5 so that the changeover of the switches may result in the selection of a reference signal to be supplied to the amplifier 3 and succeeding control elements which control the opening of the throttle valve in accordance with the input signal.

Other examples of the arrangement according to the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 schematically shows an arrangement in shown a reference voltage which the present invention is applied to provide a function of preventing any excess revolution of the automobile engine. The engine is indicated by reference numeral 8, and there is further provided means 9 for generating a reference voltage corresponding to the number of engine revolutions to which the engine 8 should be controlled. The electric signal so generated by the reference voltage generator means 9 is transmitted to the amplifier 3 through the switch 6a. Means for detecting the number of revolutions of the engine 8 is provided to generate a voltage corresponding to the number of revolutions of the engine 8.

With the arrangement of FIG. 2, if the value of the reference voltage produced by the reference voltage generator 9 is compared with the output voltage of the means 10 for detecting the number of revolutions of the engine 8 so that switch' 6 opens and switch 6a closes when the number of engine revolutions exceeds its reference value, then a signal representing the difference between these two voltage values will be applied to the amplifier 3 and succeeding elements. Thus, by presetting this signal to such a value as to close the throttle valve 5, the engine 8 can be prevented from making any excess revolution and in the meantime the driver of the automobile can direct all his attention only to the depression of the accelerator pedal without any particular need to take care of the number of revolutions of the engine 8.

FIG. 3 shows another application of the present invention in which the arrangement of FIG. 2 is additionally provided with a function of controlling the number of engine revolutions so as to provide the same number of rotation to two clutch surfaces which are to be engaged with each other in order to change over the speed change gear during the running of the vehicle. The arrangement of FIG. 3 includes means 11 for detecting the number of rotations of a clutch plate adjoining to the engine of the vehicle, i.e., a driving side clutch plate and means 12 for detecting the number of rotations of the other clutch surface or plate, i.e., a driven side clutch plate forming the reference clutch surface in this case. With this arrangement, a speed change gear changeover signal (a changing signal for the change gear) (not shown) causes the switches 6 and 6a to open while causing the switch 6b to close. Thereupon, the difference between the voltage values of the two detector means 12 and 11 is applied to the amplifier 3 through the switch 6b so that the throttle valve 5 is actuated to open or close by the servo mechanism 4 in accordance with the output of the amplifier 3, and thereby the number of revolutions of the engine 8 is controlled so as to provide the same number of rotations to the two clutch surfaces.

I claim:

1. A throttle valve controller device for an automobile engine carburetor, comprising:

first reference means for generating a first electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of an accelerator pedal in an automobile,

second reference means for generating at least one reference signal comprising a second electrical signal related to an engine driving parameter of said automobile,

control means responsive to an input control electric signal for controlling the degree of opening of a throttle valve in said engine carburetor, and

a plurality of switches connected to an input of said control means for selectively connecting said control means to an output of one of said first and second reference means whereby said control means controls the degree of opening of said throttle valve in accordance with the selected one of said first or second electrical signals respectively.

2. A throttle valve controller device as in claim I wherein said second reference means comprises:

a reference voltage generator for producing a reference speed signal related to the desired number of engine revolutions per unit time and an engine speed detector for generating an actual engine s ed signal,

sai control means being operative to decrease the degree of opening of said throttle valve in response to detecting an engine speed signal larger than said reference speed signal when said plurality of switches are selected to connect said control means to said second reference means.

3. A throttle valve controller device as in claim 2 wherein said second reference means further comprises:

a reference drive speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driving side clutch plate, and

a load speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driven side clutch plate,

said control means being supplied with a control signal corresponding to the difference between the number of revolutions per unit time of said driving side clutch plate and that of said driven side clutch plate when said plurality of switches are appropriately selected.

4. A throttle valve controller device as in claim 1 wherein said second reference means comprises:

a reference drive speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driving side clutch plate, and

a load speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driven side clutch plate,

said control means being supplied with a control signal corresponding to the difference between the number of revolutions per unit time of said driving side clutch plate and that of said driven side clutch plate when said plurality of switches are appropriately selected. 

1. A throttle valve controller device for an automobile engine carburetor, comprising: first reference means for generating a first electric signal corresponding to the degree of depression of an accelerator pedal in an automobile, second reference means for generating at least one reference signal comprising a second electrical signal related to an engine driving parameter of said automobile, control means responsive to an input control electric signal for controlling the degree of opening of a throttle valve in said engine carburetor, and a plurality of switches connected to an input of said control means for selectively connecting said control means to an output of one of said first and second reference means whereby said control means controls the degree of opening of said throttle valve in accordance with the selected one of said first or second electrical signals respectively.
 2. A throttle valve controller device as in claim 1 wherein said second reference means comprises: a reference voltage generator for producing a reference speed signal related to the desired number of engine revolutions per unit time and an engine speed detector for generating an actual engine speed signal, said control means being operative to decrease the degree of opening of said throttle valve in response to detecting an engine speed signal larger than said reference speed signal when said plurality of switches are selected to connect said control means to said second reference means.
 3. A throttle valve controller device as in claim 2 wherein said second reference means further comprises: a reference drive speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driving side clutch plate, and a load speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driven side clutch plate, said control means being supplied with a control signal corresponding to the difference between the number of revolutions per unit time of said driving side clutch plate and that of said driven side clutch plate when said plurality of switches are appropriately selected.
 4. A throttle valve controller device as in claim 1 wherein said second reference means comprises: a reference drive speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driving side clutch plate, and a load speed detector for effectively detecting the number of revolutions per unit time of a driven side clutch plate, said control means being supplied with a control signal corresponding to the difference between the number of revolutions per unit time of said driving side clutch plate and that of said driven side clutch plate when said plurality of switches are appropriately selected. 